Viking Eir Ship (Viking Cruises) Food and Dining Review

March 23, 2018

Happy Friday friends! I hope that you have had a wonderful week! Anyone doing anything fun this weekend? Saturday is my amazing mom's birthday so I am so looking forward to celebrating with her! Today I am so excited to share with y'all a review about the food and dining on the Viking Eir. I am going to cut to the chase here and just say that the food was absolutely wonderful, especially if you have food allergies like myself.
From the moment that we arrived on board we were immediately impressed with the quality of food, the taste, and the attention to detail that Viking Eir gave.

As a bit of an explanation for those who haven't sailed on the Viking Eir before seating is a bit different than a typical ocean cruise where you are assigned a table and the people you sit with. This is "free and open seating" where you can choose who you sit with and it was awesome. Honestly, I absolutely loved it. It was fun to meet a ton of different people on board the ship and get to know people - especially at the beginning of the cruise. 
Having this open and free seating allowed us to make treasured friends on our cruise. On our second night on board we saw these four beautiful ladies above and we asked if we could join them for dinner. From that night on (and at most lunches for the rest of the cruise) we sat with "the girls" (as my mom and I affectionately named our friends) at both lunch and dinner. My mom and I still say that this was one of our absolute favorite parts of the trip for us! We love and miss you guys!! Seriously- these ladies were amazing. They were warm, welcoming, and made the cruise for us. Their life stories are inspiring and I walked away from the cruise inspired in so many ways because of them. 
Breakfast each morning was incredibly delicious. As a lady who usually just has a fruit smoothie in the morning and some gluten free granola, these breakfasts were outstanding! You had the choice of the buffet (where I discovered my love of European Pepper cheese- still dreaming about it!) or you could offer the menu that was provided. We usually did a combination of both- getting fruit and cheese and some veggies from the buffet and then ordering off the menu.
Everything could be made gluten free and dairy free - and so both my mom and I enjoyed the french toast and the pancakes. One morning my mom had a delicious omelet and tried a few other specialty breads, which she said was delicious. Because of all of the walking that we would do during the day, having a yummy and nourishing breakfast was a great way to start off the day. As a side note for those who are concerned and have food allergies: I had called ahead to discuss my allergies, was able to talk with a Viking Cruise chef, and never had one worry about food. Not having this concern truly made the difference on this trip. I was so impressed with the way that Viking handled everything throughout our cruise.
One of the neatest things about a river cruise is that you can watch outside as you are eating. It was so neat to see the countryside as we would eat our meals!
For lunch we had the choice of a buffet again (where I enjoyed the most delicious salads- everything was so incredibly fresh!!) and an opportunity to order off a menu. Typically there were choices of specialty soups and salads, sandwiches, or light dinner options. Lunch was one of my favorite meals because I was able to get so many greens into me, and y'all know how much I love my greens! *smiles*
This was our chef on our cruise! He was the absolute best!!
Dinners were also a favorite meal... so yes, I have said that all three meals were my favorite (*smiles*) hahaha! But honestly, they were just delicious. Each meal had so many yummy choices and the food was done to absolute perfection. It was hands down some of the best food that I have ever eaten- not just on a cruise, but from a restaurant. The presentation was also amazing - it was simply beautiful in the creativity and colors and you always felt like you were dining in a 5-star restaurant.
This chocolate cake above makes me smile. It was gluten and dairy free and even though I don't like chocolate it was delicious. I loved it so much that I asked if I could have it again the final night of the cruise and our waiter surprised me and my mom with two pieces. We couldn't eat all of that but we still dream and talk about that chocolate cake! 
Because we were on the cruise over New Years Eve they held a special dinner for us that night and the food was amazing. We had such a great time- hanging out, talking, and just enjoying the evening. Later on there was dancing on the ship and then we watched as people all over set off fireworks- it was simply a beautiful evening! 
On every Viking cruise there is a "cultural night" which is a special evening of music and food. On our cruise it was a German themed evening and it was so much fun! 
All of the staff was dressed up and they brought in special music, had beer flowing, and yummy German food for the night. It was so much fun! I have to add in here a few words about the entire wait staff (and all of the waiters that we came in contact with). They were absolutely amazing. They seriously went above and beyond in so many ways to help accommodate my food allergies and were just amazing people to talk with and get to know. Each one was incredible patient, helpful, and fun. I was so impressed with each staff member!
I hope that this review of the Viking Eir Ship Food and Dining has been helpful! Please let me know if y'all have any questions! 

If you are interested in reading more about our Basel to Amsterdam cruise on Viking, you can click on the links below: 

Happy Friday friends!

6 comments

  1. I found the food on the Viking EIR at dinner time to be not very good

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    1. WHAT?!? REALLY?!? Wow- that is honestly baffling to me because I felt with all of their choices, options for requesting changes (with allergies or not) and all of the variety there was something for everyone. Everyone we met on our ship loved the food as did we! Everyone is different though and I am sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it because we talk about it all the time how fantastic it was! Hopefully next time you will have a better experience!
      Blessings, Rebecca :)

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  2. Wow! So do you want t ok hear what happened go us on Viking cruise of the Danube?--Budapest to Nuremburg----they made us transfer from the Yarl to the Atla halfway through the one week cruise because a li k was broken right b4 Nuremburg! We were sitting stationary I. NUREMBURG TGE LAST HALF OF THE TRIP TO ACCOMODATE ANOTHER BOAT. AS IT TURNED OUT, THE LOCK NEAR NUREMBURG OPENED ON FRIDAY AND WE COULD Have cruised all the way thru if they had let us stay on our boat. Viking is not accommodating us financially as yet. Returned on July 7. Not happy!

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  3. I am sorry to hear of your experience on Viking. It is always disappointing when a cruise doesn't go exactly as we hope or plan due to unforeseen circumstances. Unfortunately with the rise and fall of rivers, this is a common experience of having to transfer boats and that is why Viking states this in their policies that this might happen.

    Everyone is different though and I am sorry to hear you didn't enjoy it because we talk about it all the time how fantastic it was! Hopefully next time you will have a better experience!

    To be clear, I am not a representative or a spokesperson for Viking Cruises, this is my travel blog where I share my honest and authentic thoughts on my experiences. I would recommend that you continue to contact Viking to express your situation and frustrations and not on blog posts where your voice and situation will not be heard or given the response that only the company can provide.

    I hope that in the future you have a chance to sail again and have a wonderful experience no matter what cruise line you choose!

    Have a wonderful day!
    Warmly, Rebecca :)

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  4. CRUISING THE SAME CRUISE OCTOBER 3,2019, YOUR ARTICLE AND PICTURES HELPED GREATLY. IF YOU THINK OF ANYTHING ELSE PLEASE PASS IT ALONG. WE HAVE TAKEN MANY OCEAN CRUISES THIS IS OUR FIRST RIVER CRUISE>

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    1. I am so glad that you found this helpful and hope that you have a wonderful cruise! We truly loved our experience and it was a beautiful trip full of so many memories and amazing experiences! If you are looking for more details on the trip you can find a list of all of the posts on my travel page on the website (or by clicking through here: http://www.caravansonnet.com/p/travel-adventures.html) or for Viking Specific posts here- (http://www.caravansonnet.com/search/label/Viking%20River%20Cruise?max-results=12)! Please let me know if you have any specific questions as I would be happy to answer them!

      Warmly, Rebecca :)

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